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Highlights women's subordinate role
(Lakoff, 1975)
If women...
ridiculed as unable to think clearly, unable to take part in a serious discussion: in some sense, as less than fully human.
ridiculed as unable to think clearly, unable to take part in a serious discussion: in some sense, as less than fully human.
(Lakoff, 1975)
What does this suggest?
No matter if women use or do not use linguistic features, they will still be regarded negatively.
Genguage = Gender + Language
This model is first introduced by linguist and author Jennifer Coates in her book Women, Men and Language (Coates, 1986)
How are our views of gender formed?
Perceptions of gender are not predetermined
Formed through performance and construction in language between interlocutors, which is congruent with gender performativity, as first introduced by Judith Butler.
According to Butler,
Gender cannot act as a stable identity.
However...
If this is the case, how do people growing up with gender dysphoria justify the mismatch that they feel between their gender at birth and gender at growth? (Ton ,2018)
Portrayal of queer people in the media:
Drag queen
Stereotypes exist in other mediums of communication:
s (“Dear, Dear Son-In-Law”, 2007) :
Suggests family's father being homophobic
by local newpaper (SPH Razor, 2013a) :
Suggests that trans women do not know how to behave like a ‘woman’
Is there any party supporting inclusivity?
Uber, an apt example of a company supporting inclusivity
(Uber Singapore, 2017)
featured a gay man in an Uberpool ride and his unprejudiced ride sharer, leaving positive notes of acceptance for the community that the people should extend too
Performance -> Elicit response -> Perception formed
(Meyerhoff, 2014; Van Herk, 2011)
Performance
How we behave, talk and present ourselves
Response
From interlocutor (person you are interacting with)
Perception
about the idea of gender and sexuality
What does it mean when you say that someone is not performing their gender?
When someone does not behave according to societal's expectation of how that certain gender should behave.
Examples
When women,
Focuses on gender-based cultural differences
Men
Women
A Singaporean drama series on MediaCorp Channel 5 that had over 823 episodes since it aired in 2015
Shows how men use language to build their status
Eg. Wafiq used language to assert his status as acting CEO of the company
Shows how women seek and provide support using the network of connections
Eg. Ann tried to seek empathy from the man she was talking to.
Shows how men use language to convey a message
Eg. Male boss addressed a huge mistake made regarding the mix up of a patient's drug presciption.
Shows that in the situation of dealing with a problem, men uses language to find a solution while women uses it to obtain comfort and sympathy.
Eg. Ah Kong and Ben were persuading Mdm Lee to visit a doctor without considering her feelings that undercut her resistance. Mdm Lee used language to seek sympathy and support and garnered support from Li Yan.
Shows how men are more direct in delivering orders using imperative while women adopt super-polite forms when asking for a favor
Eg. The women in the scene used 'please' when asking someone to help her to get more ice.
Shows the confrontational characteristics of men in resolving disagreement and the non-confrontational characteristic of women
Eg. Wafiq dissed Xue Ling when she suggested a marketing idea he wasn’t in favor of. He probably perceives this as a threat to his authority and dismissed her idea directly. She then vented out her dissatisfaction to her husband.
Differences between Men and Women
How is language used?
Men: To one-up the other man or simply avoid being dominated
Women: To seek validation and support for their ideas
What implications does this have in a cross-gender interaction?
Conflicts and Communication barriers
They arise when one gender expect the other to communicate in the same way they do
Deborah Tannen (Linguist)
She published a book 'You Just Don’t Understand', which presented a neutral stand (placing both men and women on equal footing) and introduced the concept of Genderlect.
What are the 6 categories illustrating the differences in Genderlects?
6 Categories
Status VS support
Information VS feelings
Understanding VS advice
Orders VS proposals
Conflict VS compromise
Independence VS intimacy
What does the Genderlect Theory propose?
Different gender adopts different language.
Emphasizes on power differences and men being in power
Men
Women
1) NYLON SINGAPORE
An online news publication that caters to the current, modern generation of Singapore.
In 2016, an anonymous confession was submitted and posted under the publication’s editorial team:
“Contrary to what most of you think, us girls are not all sugar and rainbows when we play games. We might be in real life, but it’s always hard to hold back the anger and shouts when something goes wrong in the middle of an intense battle (games).”
2) SNICKERS SINGAPORE
A very famous brand of chocolate in Singapore.
In one of their
There were many boys playing soccer together. The losing team was very frustrated with their goalkeeper, a ‘lady’, and got even more angry when the ‘lady’ sassed them. Later, one of the players gave the ‘lady’ a Snickers bar and ‘she’ transformed back into a man. The goalkeeper saved many goals after that.
3) MOTHERSHIP.SG
A popular news and video site for Singaporeans including official news about Singapore or lifestyle videos of other citizens.
A man was hurling profanities at a woman because she was taking too long at the Automated Teller Machine (ATM).
.
What is the situation like in Singapore regarding profanities?
Usage of Profanities: Less acceptable for female than males.
Stereotypes (Fine and Johnson, 1984)
Unfeminine
Harsh
Attention Commanding
'Male activity'
It is greatly supported by scholarly, professional feminists such as Dale Spender.
Why?
It brings awareness to the harsh reality of treatment that some women still receive.
In her part of the work ‘Doing Feminist Research’, Dale Spender (1981) states that:
there is a problem of male dominance, which demands feminist attention.
Men's linguistic features are linked to power and superiority
(Lakoff, 1975)
POWER (Lakoff, 1975)
an unequal or non-reciprocal relationship between two or more speakers, predicting who (or, whose norms) will dominate an interaction.
Represents how female language is subordinate to male language
Men
Women
Women's language
an inferior version of men’s language as the language use contributes to the social status and position of women in society
Hence, the term 'deficit' is derived from the concept.
How is societal's perception reflected in Singapore's media?
1) Singapore Airlines Training
Female air stewardess are expected to be well-groomed, wear heels and constantly smile. Those are the traits which makes them highly feminine and proper. Linguistically, they are expected to speak with a sweet tone, to not interrupt and be humble in their speech.
2) Digital media
Hollywood's shows and movies: Portrayal of Women and their language use is highly showcased, which proliferates into the societal expectation and perception of women as someone who is less intelligent, more emotional and irrational compared to men.
Disney movies : further emphasizes women's role in society through language use and behavior of women in relation to men. This may lead to impressionable young audiences to believe and conform to the societal expectations of women since it is widely broadcasted all around the world.
3) Book: Emily of the Emerald Hill
A popular Singaporean literature written by Stella Kon that garnered enough attention to turn it into plays and musicals.
Musical's transcript of Emily's conversation with men:
a. “You will send [him] my best wishes, won’t you?”
b. “Deliver [the meat] to Emerald Hill?”
c. “I am only too happy to make my little contribution.”
GENDER
SEX
SEXUALITY
